I went to EMS to get him re-enrolled for 8th grade. School starts in just one more week. Blah! I am not ready to let my kids go!! They are ready, so I must be ready. I got to the desk, told her I needed to get him registered, gave her our last name...
(Gasp) "Caden?! Caden's coming back to school?! How is he doing?"
(Calling to the other staff) "Did you guys hear that? Caden Dirks is coming back to school!!!"
I was almost in tears. It has nothing to do with my tender emotional state, either. This school LOVES my son. Out of all of the kids that will walk through those doors in six mornings, they were concerned about mine. That makes them my favorites! I'm fairly certain that everyone in the building, that knew or had Caden before, came to say hi. It was pretty special.
Since he did absolutely nothing while in "homeschool," they said he'd need to take the MAP test this morning to make sure they place him in the correct classes. We knew all about this test. When he took it in sixth grade, just after we moved here, he was placed in an extra class for Math and Reading. This not only made him feel dumb (he'd been in advanced classes in Casper) but it took away his electives. He didn't get to do as many "fun" classes. It was a low blow to a boy that was ripped from everything he knew and loved. It made for a hard half-year for Caden.
So, as I was driving him to the school for the testing, I made sure to do the "Mom" thing and reiterate how important it was for him to do his absolute best. That if he was able to do well, he'd be able to leave the extra classes behind and have all of the electives available to him. But, I also made sure to do the "Mom" thing and tell him that it wasn't a bad thing to get placed in those classes, that after all, he'd been without proper schooling for half a year. He said he understood all that I was saying (only slightly irritated) and that he'd do his best. So, I dropped him off and held my breath.
Figuratively, or course. The testing took two hours. And guess what?! Caden smashed it!!! He will not need extra help! He is above where he needs to be, even!! I am SO proud of my son. Instead of telling him that he was "SO SMART!!!" I made sure to tell him that he 'must have worked really hard.' Because, even though he is really smart, I don't want him to have a test later that he doesn't do as well on and think that he's no longer smart enough. Chalk one up to a morning full of "good mom" points!!
This boy never ceases to amaze me! Lays in a bed for months, hooked up to chemicals, fighting a monstrous fight, and comes away without a worry in the world- passing tests without studying! I'm the luckiest girl in the world!!
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